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Britons having less sex

TONY EASTLEY: While we live in a world where sex appears in various forms in advertising, in dramas on TV and of course, on the net, English men and women are finding that the uptake of screen sex does not necessarily translate to the bedroom.

Europe correspondent Philip Williams explains.

(Music: Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'aime)

PHILIP WILLIAMS: In the good old days, pre-internet, we had the TV, the couch and, it appears, a little more motivation for an early night in.

According to a once in a decade survey of 15,000 Brits, couples are coupling fewer than five times a month amongst 16 to 44 year olds. That compares with six times a month or one and a half times a week in the previous two decades.

Dr Cath Mercer from University College London has been interpreting the results of the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles and says the pressures of modern life may be to blame for the decline.

CATH MERCER: We have to think about a number of different factors that influence sexual behaviour; so for example, the role of the recession. Those in work are working longer hours, they're working harder, they're perhaps too tired to have sex these days.

KARINE SWEET: Sex is about relating. It's about intimacy. It's about chemistry with another person. I think a lot of us are living fragmented lives. So a lot of us are working different shifts, people coming in late, going out early.

PHILIP WILLIAMS: Part of modern life is the mobile and bed friendly technology, designed to stimulate our minds. But there is a hidden cost.

KARINE SWEET: If you are in the same room together, which a lot of people live in separate rooms now, even in a household, because you're on a computer in one room, somebody else is maybe on TV and on their phone at the same time.

The chemistry of sitting together on the sofa as in goggle box doesn't happen.

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